RTice

My Feedback: (9)

Jones:
John is correct, nimh batteries can be tricky. Do you happen to have a "real" charger...or does a friend? Several cycles should/might get them to their full 600mah potential. A quicker way to do it is to put them on a good charger and have it cycle them for you at .1...1/10th of an amp. You would want to cycle them 3-5 times...or whatever it takes to get them up to their full potential. A good charger will show you the readout of the mah capacity after each cycle...it should rise. Once it reaches full capacity (and sometimes beyond), you can go back to charging them on the cheaper charger at .6...or 1/10 of the capacity....which would be the normal charge rate.

I would be happy to cycle them for you, but you would have to pay shipping to get them to me...I would cycle them and pay to send them back.

BTW - it is good that you bought two batteries...I also buy at least two batteries for each plane.
Rob

RTice

My Feedback: (9)

I went completely brushless and lipo too...here are my specs. I am running a 2s lipo to keep the weight down and to keep it slow...since this is my night flyer. My neighbor went with the same setup, except he went with a 3s lipo and a smaller prop of course. With a 2s lipo, you will see a very nice increase in power...more power than is needed... With a 3s and this setup, it burns. It will go vertical and fairly fast (for this particular plane). Watch out though, the wings will flutter at higher speeds and could cause failure. I am building a second slo-v with brushless upgrade. I'll post those specs below too.

I have to tell you, the slo-v in the stock setup is fairly good...especially for a beginner. The power output is fairly low...light...not much electrical knowledge or special lipo chargers are needed etc... But, after you have upgraded to brushless and lipo, you will enjoy the slo-v more than ever. It is much more controllable...still maintains the nice slow flying characteristics...and the extra power...and long flight times is just icing on the cake.


Brushless Slo-V - Brushless setup with Glowire and flashers
Motor - BP 9YSS Outrunner Brushless Motor With Short Shaft at 840 kv.
Prop - GWS 12x6 SF
Servos - Hextronik HXT900 9gram
ESC - Hobbywing or SuperSimple 25A with programming card
Battery - Rhino 1250 2s 20C lipo
RX - AR6100E
Amps - ~10-11

I call this one my Red Baron. Those are the pictures of it below. It has red glowire on the wing and tail, but I do not have any pics of it lighted up.



New brushless slo-v in the works (with ailerons and a no-dihedral flattened wing)
Motor - Brushless Outrunner TowerPro2409-18 1000kv / 180W
Prop - APC 10x4.7 (props will change based on desired flight characteristics)
Servos - Hextronik HXT900 9gram or Turnigy Servo 8g
ESC - Hobbyking SS Series 25-30A ESC (card programmable)
Battery - Either 1000mah or 1300mah 3s lipos
RX - AR6110E
Amps - ~15

This one is still being planned...I have all the materials, but haven't started.


The pictures below are of the 2s Red Baron version.

jones2t

Guys,

Many thanks for the quick and informative replies.

From your posts Igot the idea to try charging my batteries at the minimum current setting of the car charger. One battery has been charging for a while now, and the charger LEDis still flashing, so hopefully it will charge more fully this way.

When you say a "good charger," what do you mean? And, are the connectors on these chargers universal? If not, what will I need to do to connect the "good" charger to my Slo-V battery packs?

RTice

My Feedback: (9)

Jones:
That might work...charging them at a lower rate on the supplied charger. Give it a shot...but monitor it.

By a real charger, I mean a higher end charger capable of charging various kinds of batteries (nicad, nimh, lipo, life, etc). They allow you to monitor the mah being put back into the battery...allow you to cycle...charge and balance...charge at various rates...have safety mechanisms built in...like timers...auto cutoffs...thermometer ports. No, they do not have universal connectors. Hobbyzone uses a certain kind...other manufacturers use their brand/type. Most people either convert their setups to a particular type of connector (Deans, PowerPoles, etc) and/or make adapters so that they can utilize the various types of connectors on the market.

Here is a the charger that I have. There are others...many that are better/more powerful...but this one is an overall good charger that fits my needs. For a charger recommendation to meet your needs, I would start a post over in the battery/charger section and ask some questions. With all chargers...even the one that comes with the Slo-V, safety is always the first rule.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=735847

jones2t

Guys,

Thank you very much for your excellent advice regarding my Slo-V battery life problem! You were correct, the problem was that the included cigarette-lighter charger was not properly charging the batteries. The ready solution turned out to be turning the charger's current control to the minimum setting. It now appears that the batteries are charging fully.

I'm very disappointed that the Parkzone documentation makes no mention of this issue. When I called their technical support line, the guy I spoke with there correctly diagnosed the problem as "false peaking", and said I had to charge and discharge the batteries 5 or 6 times to get to full capacity... but since they wouldn't charge in the first place, I don't see how this could have worked.

Now that I think about it, the Slo-V documentation is pretty lame overall, leaving a number of important steps to be puzzled out by the reader. Considering that this is a product targeting relatively inexperienced users, the poor documentation is disappointing.

In any case, I'm hopeful I've cleared the last hurdle now thanks you to your help!

velojet

Thanks for all your specs and the excellent photos, RTice. Fabulous livery on your Red Baron, too!

I've still to go fully brushless. Cheapskate that I am, I'm waiting till the stock rx/ESC fails so that I can discard it knowing that I've got max value out of it.

However, I did convert to 2s 1800 mAh lipos a long time ago, and that halfway stage was enough to give my Old Faithful a new lease of life - lots more power and, as you say, long flight times.

John V

RTice

My Feedback: (9)

Jones:
Yes, good to hear. Yes, the manual is pretty poor for a beginner. If I recall correctly, it doesn't even tell you the center of gravity...which is really a problem with a moveable wing.

Velo:
Yep, I am sure the lipo alone brings increased consistent power and longer flight times. One of the additional benefits of going brushless is the switch to better radio gear. The original rx/tx is somewhat glitchy in my opinion/experience. A better radio and receiver can make it smooth as silk.
Good luck.
Rob (also known as Bombay on other forums)

RTice

My Feedback: (9)

Ok guys, dust off that tired Slo-V...convert it to brushless...and then let's do some night flying. [&:]

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

All I can say is SWEET!

Ispintechno

I'm flying my slo-v completely stock and with a 7-cell fire bird battery after I juice the stock one. Love this plane! So easy to fly. My only gripe is the connection from the plane to the battery is sloppy, I have to really squeze it or I will lose motor power in the air (but not surface control oddly enough).
Last weekend I set all the controls to be more acrobatic (innerholes on the tail, outer at the servos) and I can hold the slo-v inverted with full down elevator now. I just wish this thing had alerons, oh well, next plane.
I totally recommend this plane for a newbie like myself. I trained on FSone, bought this and it flys just like on the computer. Very forgiving and stalls are actually fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSK6O3W7CH8

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

Nice job man. Isn't it fun?! Yes a less windy day would be better.
Happy flying.
When you are ready, get yourself a Piper cub. It will also fly nice and slow for a beginner, but it will also fly a little faster when you want it to.
Here is my Exceed Piper Cub when it was stock. $69.00 ready to fly
http://www.rcuvideos.com/video/Exceed-Piper-Cub-2-wmv

Ispintechno

Nice Piper Cub! Looks nice and scale in the air which is something I wish the slo-v had, I mean some people think it is a kite at first lol
I'm actually looking at another parkzone... p-51 mustang... I know, not a noobie plane. But I am flying a everything on FSone very well, including the turbine Mig-15. The slo-v I just go out and mess around, split-s and reverse cuban seems impossible with it.
I am also fantasizing about an Exceed plane though... EDF F-18!!! [>:]

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

It will be totally different once you get the real plane. Trust me, get a Cub and fly it for a while. You will see a huge difference between that and what you are flying now.
I even went brushless with my Cub before I moved up. Here is the vid of the brushless version. And some pics of the job.
It was very windy that day, but you can see that she has alot more power. In the beginning of the video I put her up vertical and she was shooting straight up. But because it was windy, I pushed forward on the elevator and straightened her out. From there it was a battle with the wind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWwXAW5Tsx4

Fisher

Post removed!

dnmeboy

Hi, I just rebuilt a slo v last night because my LHS happened to have all of the parts in stock that I needed accept the stock pushrods, and the landing gear. The push rods are a bit thin but they do work, i have them pushed through the mounts on the fuse, crossed over as they should be. I can not get steering correct. It is reversed.... Also The way I have to plug the servos in, the left servo plugs into the right side of the rx and the right servo to the left plug on the rx. That give me correct elevon control but reverse steering. Putting them back, left to left, right to right reverses elevon....also steering isnt reversed it just pulls the flaps backwards/down instead of up. I could fly it with reverse steering but i dont want to. What went on with the slo v while it belonged to a friend of mine is that he changed the rx for t tail mixing and put a t tail on it. I removed the jumper and it is now working in v tail mixing. I noticed the motor kept cutting off at half throttle so placing the jumper back on pins for jumper 1 I got the motor to stop cutting off.

Everything seems to be fine accept steering. And I can not no matter how much I mess with it get the steering correct.

Has anyone ever had this issue or can anyone make any suggestions? The servos are mounted according to pictures of the stock slo v I have seen. I gotta get this figured out so I can go fly lol.

Thanks for anyone who might read this and attempt to help me out.

Does anyone have a video of the slo v sitting while giving it elevon input so I can see it and make sure I am getting the correct amount of throw?

rehaines1

Good morning everyone,
I just returned inside after maidening my V.  It took a bit of tweaking (wing position, clevices etc....) to get it to fly completely hands off, but once it is set up there is nothing easier to fly.  Push the throttle forward and watch.  I did have to keep it on high rate to make control responsive enough to keep it within my pasture boundries. 

Acouple of things that helped me (thanks to this forum :-)     )
1)  Cycle the batteries on the lowest setting for the first couple of charges - Could not charge them otherwise.
2)  Take a couple of quick test hops to make sure (even though I KNOW I checked the CG first) to make sure that the V is controllable
3)  Buy spare prop shafts - then buy some more
4)  Save the parts from the old prop shafts as the little prop nuts are very easy to strip (ask me how I know)
5)  Fly HIGH
6)  Breath slowly

I appologize if this is found somewhere else (I took a quick look to see if I could find it).  Is there a post that outlines the recommended setup info that all of you have come up with?  Wing location, throws, CG etc......  It would be invaluable to have all of the tips and tricks in one location.

Thanks again to each and every one of you for your info.  I would be breaking out the epoxy without it!!!!!
Rick

velojet

Glad that your maiden was successful, Rick! I've had my Slo-V out flying over 150 times and I still get a lot of fun out of it. Here are hints on setup and flying that I culled from this and other forums - they might not answer all your questions, but you may find something useful here.

John V

SETUP

(lwien) Try this. Measure 4 inches out from the edge of each end of the fuselage and 4 inches from the leading edge of the wing. Put an x with a marker at these measurement spots on each side of the wing. Now move your wing forward to the 3rd notch from the front. Then supporting the plane with just your fingertips at each of the x spots, check to see if the plane is level. Move the wing either forward or back to get the plane as level as you can... no problem with a little nose down position.....but just a little. Make sure you do this with the battery installed. Once you find this center of gravity, your climb rate should improve a lot. Just be light on the stick so you don't stall by overcorrecting on the elevator.

(Glacier Girl) I'd say stick with the low rates, and set it up just a tad nose heavy. Will be less skittish, and with the low rates less prone to stalls and over corrections. Then as skill dictates, go to the higher rates and move the CG back for more performance.

(speedpro 1) The tx will beep when the batterys are low. (dribbe) Ussually, the included AA Tx batteries are good for maybe a couple of hours of flying.... Alkalines will last even longer. (Rat1) I have run through a about 8 packs on my Slow V so far and still have the original batteries in the transmitter (the ones that came with it).

(Rat1) Another tip. The little control rod guides are very weak. Wrap each guide with some thread down close to the base of the mount and put a couple drops of CA ont he thread and remember to not pick up your Slo V by the tail,pick it up right behind the motor infront of the wing.

(sabre scientist) I have inserted a quarter inch wood dowell in the first 8" of the fuselage,and gained durability without much weight gain. I moved the battery forward about a half inch, and the wing all the way aft.

(jb48) At last, I was able to fly my Slo-V the right way. Since I got that airplane 3 weeks ago, every flight finished nose down in the grass. Well I am a newbie (a newvie?) and for the first time today my Slo-V flew perfectly in about 5-8 mph wind! The recipe: a very experienced RC flyer flew it and found immediately that the beast was tail heavy. He asked me to back the wing, which I done, backed to the last stop toward the tail. It flies now like a great lady of the sky. This thing doesn`t like to be tail heavy! Experience is invaluable!

(hawk3eye) As a total noob to rc planes, ... I found a couple things from this thread that helped me out a lot (like setting the main wing back a few notches and adjusting the trim and keeping and eye on bent prop shafts). I definitely recommend the low rate feature for the first few flights and the high rate once your comfortable and for high wind situations.

(superjim) Fixing a 3 wire servo to the slo-v receiver is a matter of soldering the green and red wires from the receiver directly to the servo motor. The other three wires need to connect to the pot on the ultimate servo shaft. It's important to get these the right way around but getting them the wrong way around will just cause the servo to not work properly - it won't damage it. So trial and error is a viable solution. I expect there's a better way to do this using a multimeter set to resistance but my way works as well.

FLYING

(Rat - RCGroups) Look for a tall grass field to start over. Adjust the linkages so that all the control surfaces are level and flat with the transmitter turned on and the battery hooked up. Start with the wing about three notches from the rear most position. This will make it so that you have to pull back on the stick to make it climb rather then it wanting to climb on its own and possibly stall and crash. Set it down on the ground and do a few taxis while getting used to the controls. Do this a few times will run in the motor a bit (break in the brushes) run the battery pack down before recharging it. There is an automatic shut down on the plane that will shut down the motor temporarily when the battery gets below a certain point. Once this happens then I run the motor at a slow speed to drain the battery down even more. I know this is not the correct way to run down a battery but in a pinch it will work. Put the battery on the charger about an hour before you plan to fly. Once you are ready to maiden then go find your large grass field if possible. The larger the better. Make sure you have a harder surface of an area with real short grass for take off. Do your range check and position yourself so that you will not look toward the sun while your plane is in the air. Give the plane the juice to get it in the air. You will know it is time to pull back slightly when you see the plane start to float just inches off the ground. It will happen in a very short distance. Pull back just slightly on the stick and your plane should lift into the air but it might try to turn to the right right away. Just use the stick to keep the plane going straight till you gain more then thirty feet or so of altitude. Now trim the plane to fly straight using the slide underneith the stick. It would help to practice this a bit before you go flying. if the plane wants to turn to the right all the time then slide the slide to the left till it flys straight or vise versa. Now trim the elevator (the slide just to the left of the stick) If the plane wants to go down all the time then you need to pull the slide down or vise versa. I adjust my trim so that my Slow V flys straight and level at just under 3/4 throttle. Do gradual turns at first and be ready to give it some up elevator in turns as you will lose some speed in turns which causes the plane to dive.

(Rat1) I recomend doing a rolling start off the ground. real short grass will work for this or even a dirt road with lots of taller grass around. taxied mine a bit to get the feel for when it starts to get light and then was off. I gave it full throttle and in less then 20 ft I pulled back on the stick just slightly and it lifted off the ground. Hold a steady climb rate till you get 20 + ft off the ground then push the stick to neutral to see how it flys it should go straight but if not you can move the slide under the right hand stick to the left or right to get it to go straight. Now if you have time you should back off the throttle to about 1/2 to 3/4 and see if it holds a level flight. Adjust the slide that is to the left of the right hand stick till you have a level flight. If all is well you should be able to let go of the controls and it will hold a steady,straight, level flight path. Now flight it around at higher altitudes to get the hang of the controls. If something goes wrong while steering it you can just let go of the right hand stick and it will level out on its own.

Try landing by reducing the throttle slightly and you might need to push the stick forward just slightly. Once you get close to the ground in level flight, ft or so off the ground then slow down even more and it should touch down nicely. Now once you get it on the table or back of your truck you can take note of the position of the tail surfaces then put the trim slides on the transmitter to the middle, neutral position and manually adjust the linkage on the plane to achieve the previously noted angles of the tail surfaces. Now your next flight should be much easier and more fun. Fly the first few battery packs through it with it at higher altitude till you can master the control of the plane and then you can start playing at lower altitudes.

(Glacier Girl) Go with the 50% throttle and level flight as your base. Then for take off or landing or increase/decrease in speed it's just a matter of using the trim feature to adjust for that type of flight. You'll soon find it will become second nature to you. Each change will have your brain telling your thumb which way to adjust and how much to adjust the trims.

(lwien) Once you get it airborne, say about 20 to 30 feet high, switch to high rates... It will be a lot more responsive. Just make sure you give some up elevator when you turn, because on high rates, it can turn and loop on it's own axis. I find it much easier to land on high rates because I can flair the landing dead stick a whole bunch better. Taking off can be a little tricky with high rates though. Might want to take off on low, and then switch to high once altitude is gained.

Regarding the plane turning right or left, I found that having the wing put on perfectly straight makes a lot of difference. If the wing is canted in either position, the plane will have a tendency to turn.

What I did was to line up the wing on the wing braces without the rubberbands while closely looking at the plane real closely from the front and the back and aligned the wing as such that the v-center of the wing is sitting perfectly in the v-center of the front brace and the rear brace. I then checked the plane from above to see if the wing was straight. It was. I then took a sharpie pen and made two small "x"'s on the forward and rear white wing bracing that alighned the outer edges of the black wing braces. That way, as I'm putting on the rubber bands, I can adjust the wing so those x's line up with the edges of the black braces assuring me that the wing is on straight.

I just found that even a degree or two off center can make a difference.

(Fisher) Low rates work fine. You definitely need to trim out the tail before you fly or you will be fighting the off set the whole time. Put the battery in and turn on your TX. Look at the tail and make sure that the two surfaces are a little up from flat. Not much but more than just flat. You might have to adjust the connections just like Greg showed in his video. Lots of good stuff in that short clip. We ended up moving the connection to the third set of holes on the tail to give it a little more throw. Seems about right for the Low TX setting. One problem my 11 year old son has is that the plane reacts in slow time just like the name suggests. Send it a command and give it a chance to react. Once you get it airborne have patients. Climb slowly so it does not stall and get some altitude. When you make a move with the stick it does not snap to the command but it gets there.

Once we got used to its handling I moved the TX to High rate with the push rods on the third holes and was able to do loops and fly inverted.

ombudsman

I have introduced myself in the Electric General Discussion forum (if the intro doesn't get moved.)

After 10 years of non-flying, I bought a Slo-V to "get back my thumbs" and re-enter RC flying. I have found this thread very interesting, in a number of ways. I do believe that the Slo-V is an appropriate first plane if the aspiring pilot gets experienced help. The countless posts about broken parts attests to the absolute need for (at least) coaching. Flying RC, especially the Slo-V, looks soooo easy. The beginner can, in imagination, fly his/her new plane like a bird. The first attempt usually disabuses the beginner of thinking that this is easy. Actually, it IS easy, once you "get it;" It's the "getting it" that takes time and practice. When I started, I too thought I could teach myself to fly. Luckily, I visited the local flying field and talked to people, all of whom warned me against trying this. One kind soul offered to teach me. If I had tried this on my own (at least with the built-up, wet-powered plane I had) I probably would have not continued.

Another interesting aspect of this thread is the obvious affection that the Slo-V inspires in its owners. I have experienced this myself.

Lastly, it is interesting how many ways people have modified their Vs. I, myself,have been tempted to upgrade the power, etc. I even wondered if one could glue two V wings together, bottom-to-bottom to produce a symmetrical wing! LOL. I have decided, though, to let the V be what it is, use it as such, and acquire other planes for aerobatics, soaring, etc.

Happy V-ing!!
Dave

velojet

Thanks for posting your experiences with the Slo-V, ombudsman (you see, there's at least one member still following this thread). You're right about the affection it inspires. After 170 outings with my much repaired Old Faithful (and adding a number of other planes to my hangar), I still get a kick out of flying it.

John V

Mick@Nite

Haven't had much time to play with planes these days...but still try to keep up too!

darticus

I have one built it but never flown. Any offers. Ron

DaxFX

this is mi night flight slo-v

also with a tower pro combo brushless 1000kv

Slo-V Flyer

Just checking in with this thread. Wow I just spent almost 45 minutes reading all my my old posts from 4-5 years ago. I've moved forward with a few more bigger better/different planes (Radian, EDFs) but the Slo-V is still going strong on what I think are probably at least 4 year old electronics, motor and ESC, and I think 4 year old wing and fuse parts. It's not seen much action in the past 2 years but it's still my old standby flyer. Broken a few props though.

Now that I know much more about planes, thrust, props motors etc, I think that the BP-21 isn't the best choice for this plane. The high RPM of the motor cause the small 8x4.3 GWS prop to stall out before it can really pull the plane up vertically, making a loud siren type sound unless you back off from 100% power and the plane picks up air speed again. Supposedly the BP-21 is good for 20 oz of thrust, but with my 17 oz Slo-V I've yet to really see it go vertical for more than a few seconds if that. I blame the flimsy prop for now.

I've start making foamies from scratch now, and 40+ inch slow flyers are still an attractive preference over speedy ones. Just something about a slow plane floating through the air that appeals. I've been looking into putting an FPV setup in my planes; the Slo-V with it's big wings may just have to be a test bed! Not ideal with the prop in the camera's view but it'll be a start.

PAR3

My Feedback: (1)

Have you sold your plane yet?

PAR3

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Ron - have you sold your Slo V yet?

PAR3